Ontology Architecture: Top Ontology Architecture

In various disciplines, when working on larger projects there is a tradition of thinking in terms of an architecture (E.g. Enterprise / Systems / Software Architecture). Firstly a meta-methodological point; this suggests a good methodology for approaching large ontology projects should have an architectural component. Here architecture is used in a loose sense, there is extensive discussion on what exactly an architecture is, which is not directly relevant to the points made. Agreeing it used in a loose sense avoids this – however interesting a rabbit hole it seems. The points are illustrated the points with examples from the development and application of top ontologies such as BORO, IDEAS and MODEM.